LES MISERABLES
The story, culled from Victor Hugo’s sprawling novel, is the saga of Jean Valjean, a convict who served 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. At the opening of the show, set in 1815, he is paroled and after some desperation steals again. But he’s saved from a life of crime by a generous and forgiving bishop. From then on, Jean Valjean devotes himself to a virtuous life, making sacrifices when need be for those less fortunate than himself. This prompts him to adopt Cosette, the bastard orphan whose mother was a saintly woman forced by circumstances into prostitution and the victim of an untimely death. Valjean raises and protects Cosette, all the time fleeing from the relentless Javert, a policeman determined to bring Valjean in on a parole violation. The years pass until, in 1832, during a futile insurrection in Paris, Valjean extends his wing to protect the revolutionary student, Marius, who has become Cosette’s true love. In the end, the aged and spent Valjean goes to his just reward, joining the ranks of all the sacrificial lambs who have laid down their impossible lives dreaming the impossible dream.
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I really don’t know what to say about the music. I didn’t think it all that inspiring, or even memorable, but if you’ve listened to a tape of the show then you can judge for yourself. I found it rather homogeneous and, after three and a half hours, very homogeneous. Listen for Hollis Resnik (as Cosette’s mother), whose voice is as pure and clear and free of that sonorous, warbling vibrato–that plagues this cast–as you can get. And, if you like Cyndi Lauper or Bernadette Peters, which I don’t, then you might also enjoy the change-of-pace vocals by Renee Veneziale, who plays Eponine, the Thenardiers’ daughter.
